Weekend Finds: Odds, Ends and the Answer to Your Culinary Woes

2014.08.21

I wasn’t in a shopping mood this past weekend but, of course, it didn’t stop me from squeezing a couple tag sales in on Saturday. Sometimes I go just because I know that if I don’t I’ll sleep in until after I would have been home anyway. When you look at it that way, it just doesn’t make sense not to go. Right? Anyway, I didn’t bring home a big haul but I was happy with my finds.

My first purchase was a bit of an unsure one at the time I grabbed the tag. This American of Martinsville etagere has kind of a honey-colored Mediterranean vibe, not really the modern look I go for. But what drew me to it was the amount of display space it provides while taking up a tiny amount of space—and the glass shelves make it appear even smaller. My bedroom is pretty eclectic anyway and color-wise, this should fit right in. Now I just have to decide what to put on it.

At the same sale I found this great chain mail wrapped vintage seltzer bottle. This is one of those iconic things that I always saw in every old movie I ever watched growing up and I couldn’t resist. I love how detailed it is, including a red pinstripe on the bottle barely visible through the chain.

At another estate sale I picked up this festive little guy. Although I admit it’s a little hard to take a tiger with sapphire rhinestone eyes seriously. He’s fierce, but it’s a different kind of fierce.

These 1960s old world globe bookends were another fun find. I think globes and globe-related things are basically just bug zappers for people who like vintage things. They get me every time.

At first I thought this was a magazine rack but after pondering that the giant, floppy magazines of the 1950s would never stay put in such a contraption, I realized it is a record holder. And a pretty sweet one at that. Does it make your albums take up 300% more space than if you had them stacked or in a cabinet? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely.

For just a buck I was not leaving without this plastic dracaena plant. It’s set in concrete in a “lovely” gold burnished plastic pot. I’m hoping a few good whacks with a hammer will take care of both so that I can relocate this faux flora to my 1950s bullet planter.

I’m a sucker for a vintage blender, especially a classy little devil like this. What I really love most about it is the accompanying booklet that touts it as the “cookbook blender.” Odd wording, especially in reference to an appliance exclusively used for smoothies and daiquiris. But once you read the book you’ll understand that it’s so much more than that. In fact, you’ll wonder why you don’t use a blender each and every day. From soups to pastries, there’s apparently nothing this modern marvel can’t help you in the preparation of. Then again, most of those tasks could also be accomplished by a large spoon or a knife. Still, the ambition is something to be admired.